What are the causes and symptoms of multiple personality disorder?
The severe dissociation that characterizes patients with DID is currently understood to result from a set of causes: • An innate ability to dissociate easily • Repeated episodes of severe physical or sexual abuse in childhood • The lack of a supportive or comforting person to counteract abusive relative(s) • The influence of other relatives with dissociative symptoms or disorders The relationship of dissociative disorders to childhood abuse has led to intense controversy and lawsuits concerning the accuracy of childhood memories. The brain’s storage, retrieval, and interpretation of childhood memories are still not fully understood. The major dissociative symptoms experienced by DID patients are amnesia, depersonalization, derealization, and identity disturbances. Source: The Gale Group. Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 3rd ed.
